Market Live Email
AB Foods cuts estimates, Tesco raises outlook
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Thursday 08 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
London's FTSE 100 is expected to open 45.5 points lower (-0.45%) on Thursday after falling 74.52 points (-0.74%) to 10,048.21 the previous session as it pulled back from record highs.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Associated British Foods cuts its profit outlook on Thursday due to weaker performances at its Primark retail chain and US foods operations in the 16 weeks to January 3. The conglomerate said Primark's sales growth in the period was below previous expectations and now expected sales growth in the first half of 2026 to be in the low single digits. "We now expect group adjusted operating profit and adjusted EPS to be below last year," AB Foods said in a trading statement.
Tesco said it expects full-year earnings to be at the top end of forecasts after a solid Christmas selling season. Annual adjusted operating profit is now being tipped to come in at the upper end of its £2.9bn to £3.1bn guidance range. Group like-for-like sales were up 2.9% over the 19 weeks to 3 January.
Marks & Spencer has left its full-year guidance unchanged, after what it called "solid" Christmas trading. The high street bellwether saw like-for-like food sales rise 5.6% in the 13 weeks to 27 December, to £2.72bn. That helped offset a 2.9% decline in fashion, home and beauty, to £1.27bn. The division is continuing to recover from major cyberattack earlier in 2025. Overall, total group sales - which include Ocado Retail - rose 24.2% to £4.99bn, or by 3.3% to £4.15bn once the online grocer was stripped out.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Anthropic is planning a $10bn fundraise that would value the Claude chatbot maker at $350bn, according to multiple reports published on Wednesday. The new valuation represents an increase of nearly double from about four months ago, per CNBC, which reported that the company had signed a term sheet that stipulated the $350bn figure. The round could close within weeks, although the size and terms could change. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Coatue Management are planning to lead the financing, the Wall Street Journal reported. - Guardian
Household spending on Christmas alcohol has fallen at its sharpest pace since lockdown, as squeezed shoppers scrambled to make savings. Families spent £1.9bn loading up on supermarket beer, wine and spirits for the festive season in the four weeks ending Dec 28, down 4.1pc on the same period a year earlier, according to data provider Worldpanel. The drop is the steepest since Christmas 2021, when the figures were skewed by Covid restrictions. - Telegraph
Labour's crackdown on rental fees charged by high-street landlords could wipe £11bn off the value of shops and offices, a former Treasury economist has warned. Martin Beck, who worked at the Treasury between 2001 and 2012, said a forthcoming shake-up of rental rules could lead to a 15pc property price slump and billions of pounds of losses for commercial landlords who own sites. - Telegraph
The UK government will receive a patriotic gift of more than £600 million to reduce its debt burden from a charitable fund set up to help clear the country's debt pile. The Debt Management Office said on Wednesday that gilts worth £607 million would be cancelled as part of a donation from the "national fund", set up in 1927 by Gaspard Farrer, a former banker at Barings, to help wipe out the UK's debt. - The Times
Concerns are mounting over the financial stability of Asda after the heavily indebted supermarket suffered another bruising Christmas, reigniting City speculation that it could be pushed into a break-up or merger with a rival such as Sainsbury's. The private equity-owned grocer endured the worst festive performance of any major UK supermarket, according to two industry surveys, underlining the scale of the challenge facing its chairman, Allan Leighton, as he attempts to steer a turnaround at Britain's third-largest food retailer. - The Times
US CLOSE
US stocks pulled back on Wednesday after three days of solid gains sent the Dow and S&P 500 to new heights, with investors showing caution as geopolitical tensions ramped up and economic data mostly missed estimates.
Despite a positive start, the Dow finished 0.9% lower at 48,996.08 and the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 6,920.93, though the Nasdaq pushed 0.2% higher to 23,584.27.
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